I Woke Up One Morning and Now I'm a Pokemon
by MaitlandJones
Summary: The story is about an alternate version of our world, where the fabric of the universe altered suddenly, to have Pokemon. Animals are now Pokemon, and some humans have also been altered. Including the protagonist Atticus Lee, who has awoken to his horror that he is now a Ditto. Now he must hide his condition as he tries to survive this greatly altered and now chaotic world.
1. Chapter 1: I'm a Pokemon Now

_I decided to write this on a whim, out of the blue. Not sure what I am going to do with this story. I am just going to make stuff up as I go and have fun with it. If you write a review for a chapter I will try to respond to it next chapter. I hope this will be somewhat entertaining. Please review, every bit of input matters, because I made some changes to my usual style of writing._

Warm sunlight hits my face through the window to my room back home signaling the time for me to rise and shine to another lazy Summer day. I hit the dismiss to my alarm hours ago.

I leave it on despite not having to go to class simply to admire how many more hours I would have left to sleep, really, no point to it. I get out of bed lazily, taking a moment to stretch before I head to the bathroom.

I look out the window, the sun is high in the sky, and the birds are chirping. I should head to the bathroom to brush my teeth, before I am chastised for waiting too long to let the dog out.

I walk to the bathroom at a clumsy lazy pace. I look into the mirror and all the color in the world drains away at the ghastly sight looking back at me. My face was cadaverous and sickening to the sight. Eyes sunken back and unusually lower on the face as if my skull was made of sponge.

One eye pointing a little more rightward than the other, as if it were disconnected and on the verge of falling out. My hair was patchy like a dog with mange and my teeth felt loose in my mouth.

I tried to open my mouth to scream but my voice failed me. The face of that...that THING in the mirror, remained expressionless, blank, staring back at me.

I was suddenly met by a heavy metal guitar riff of what used to be my favorite song. That is, until I set it as my 5:00 AM alarm, I now regard the righteous guitar shredding with contempt and disappointment.

The strident call of another day with a nose to the grind stone and an end to the oh so brief escape from the incessant papers, quizzes, and page upon page of reading. This would continue week after week, and the once beloved song now serving as the trumpet sounding another mediocre day.

Shaking off the terror from my dream I tried to reach over to hit dismiss on the phone but the whole thing just fell to the floor, as if it were slapped open handed. Why aren't my fingers working I wonder and wonder if I slept on my hand to make it fall asleep. There were no tiny pins and needles, I just couldn't feel them. I open my eyes and look at them, or at least where I thought they would be.

There were none, nor any appendage that would resemble one. Just this sort of purple bump. I try to sit up in my panic, only to instead undulate and quiver. My thrashing only did enough to knock the covers off.

I could not see my own body, only this strange purplish mass of gelatin like substance. I tried to scream again, but only "MMMMM!" "MMMMM!" "MMMMM!" could come out. Disoriented did not even begin to describe how I felt but I had at see my face.

The trip to the mirror would be much quicker, my college apartment had a mirror near the door to the bathroom not far from where my bathroom was. It felt as if I had no body as I flailed, quivered, and undulated, trying to get off the bed.

Eventually my panicked flailing managed to knock me to the floor. I think I may have hit my phone's dismiss alarm button, the music stopped when I made impact with the floor, or snooze, I hope it was the dismiss button at least.

The fear subsided when I entertained the possibility that this was all a dream. I decided that flailing like a fish caught on a hook was no means of locomotion. So I gathered my thoughts to meditate on the task of getting to the mirror to see what the hell happened to me.

There is no way this could be real. I take a deep breath, or what ever the equivalent of a deep breath is in this form, and focused on the floor in front of me. A purple tendril from my body stretched out in front of me, at my will, yet not.

No one ever really consciously thinks, "I will stretch my arm out right now," the arm just sort of does it. Much in the same way I managed to stretch out this tendril. Absorbing the tendril back into my body, I set my mind to something more advanced, moving my whole body.

I called to mind the image of a snake moving across the ground, trying to duplicate that motion in my own body. It took a few tries, but I soon found myself a foot closer to my goal. Combining the two newly learned motions I slither to the vanity and reach out a tendril to pull myself onto the toothpaste encrusted countertop next to the sink.

At last I peer into the mirror so see a formless purple gelatin with two dots and a line for a mouth.

"A Ditto?! Damn! This is a dream!" I laugh to myself. I hear the familiar guitar riff coming from next to my bed. I hit the light to turn on the vanity light.

A little more illuminated, the room looked a little less detailed, and almost two dimensional. I could even see the outlines to some objects, as if they were some artist's illustration.

"Anime? Really?" I chuckle at my sugoi new surroundings.

Turning to my reflection I wave a tendril over my head like I was waving goodbye.

"Oyasuminasai Ugly-Bastard San!" I bid my reflection good night in weeboo speak. I hit the light slither to my alarm sticking out one finger width tendril turn the damn thing off.

I hop into bed, pull the covers over myself, and relax my body, my gelatinous form spreading out. I drift to sleep, no more , no more Ugly-Bastard San.

No guitar riff woke me, like on a usual school day, if I remember correctly I had school today. I usually don't sleep through it.

"SHIT! I am going to be late to class!" I panic and flail, but an all too familiar sensation struck me. The oozing and undulation.

I hold a tendril in front of my face. Being late to class was the least of my concerns. Fortunately I dealt with the initial shock earlier in the morning. Doesn't change the fact that my situation royally sucks, but at least there must be a solution. I hope. There was no way I'd walk into class like this, I'd might end up in some government lab to be dissected.

"I'm a ditto, surely I can mimic my old human form?" I say to myself. I make my way to the mirror. I form a mass trying to recreate the shape of a head, but it took up half of my gelatinous mass and I tired myself out, and I snapped back into my formless shape.

"Crap! How do they do it!" I exclaim, pounding a tendril against the counter. It comes up flesh colored, more specifically my skin tone. I see one of my trimmed beard hairs sticking from the center of human flesh colored area of my tendril.

"Aha! I can use my old genetic material to rebuild myself!" I cry in relief. I begin to feel it, a sense of change coming upon me. I can expand it or contract it until it is gone, much in the same way as moving an arm. I let it happen. My tendril grows longer and thicker, and from it's end five more spring from it, forming into fingers. Soon I feel my face pinch away from the rest of me to form a head and torso then another arm, finally two legs. I was human again.

I felt, normal...ish. I did not look quite like I remember, everything was anime-ish. I was bearded, slightly pudgy around the midriff, and for an anime character I had smaller eyes than I expected, a mix between almond shaped but more rounded on the bottom. Probably something passed down by my distant Cherokee relatives, but mixed with the European side of my family. Still something about my appearance screamed NPC shop keeper #5.

"First thing's first," I say aloud. I grab and envelope from the bedside table and removed the more important contents and set them down. I then grabbed an electric razor.

I shaved my beard while holding the envelope under my chin to catch the falling hairs. While ditto could transform based on sight, I was note sure about humans, and I was not about to take that risk. I hid my emergency stash of DNA under my bed where no one could find it and throw it away.

I look into the mirror again.

"Well I am a Ditto," I muse aloud. I look at my reflection and see if I can't alter my appearance. I call to mind what it felt like to change, and try to apply it elsewhere in my body, my belly.

"Expand," I say as my belly expands with body fat.

"Contract," my belly shrunk. I continued to shrink it until I saw faint ab muscles.

"I better cancel that gym membership!" I laugh.

I start examining my chin, "Could look a little stronger I guess, I gotta look like a badass hero!" I begin doing slight adjustments to my chin. All it needed was to be slightly more defined. "Not bad, quite manly. But something still screams soldier A about me," I say as I inspect my hazel eyes. Their shape was not necessarily bad when I would lean my head forward making them open more when forced to look up. They even looked kinda cool.

Just a quick adjustment to the eyelids and they were looking just right.

"Hot damn it's like making a character for an mmorpg, except I don't have to shell out a dollar for the cool upgrades!" I say to myself.

Suddenly Asterisk, the opening theme from Bleach plays from my phone. It is a tune also once beloved, only to become associated with midnight calls from telemarketers and awkward calls from home in the middle of class or on the toilet.

I look to see who it is. It's Andrew, one of my friends. I push accept. "Dude! YOU GOT to get here man!," my virgin friend starts. "What is it?" I ask. "Anime chicks! Anime chicks everywhere! The universe has been improved! Sure the city is on fire in some places and some folks think it's the end of the world, but ANIME CHICKS! Get to campus man! You have to see it. Everything's gone kawaii as FUCK!" Andrew hangs up before I could ask him if there is still class today.

"At least someone is having a good day," I chuckle to myself.

"I better head to campus and see the damage." I realize I am naked.

"I better shower and get dressed." The morning takes on a semblance of normalcy doing my usual morning routine as if nothing happened. Though my body felt physically weaker, as if starting from level one, if this were an RPG. Rather than fix some of the grits I brought from home, I decided to just head out to the school cafeteria where they had eggs, bacon, and sausage. I suspect that transforming expended a lot of protein, hence the craving.

I step out of my apartment, and head down the steps from the second floor to the first. Surveying the road stretching on to campus I curse under my breath my bike tire being flat. My nose was suddenly assaulted by a familiar, and unpleasant odor. It was the smell of blood.

"Taylor," I call out.

"How did you catch me?" Taylor asks.

"You always smell like blood," I reply as I turn to face him. Taylor Blackwater is a tall lanky man, with long wavy brown hair, and pencil mustache wearing a black trench coat his necklace with a large square bloodstone glinting in the sunlight. I knew him since high school. He's eccentric, for lack of a better word, he claims he is a vampire.

I'll not speak ill of him, he's as polite as he is odd but of all my friends, he is the one that I can have a halfway intelligent conversation with. Sure he wears a bloodstone necklace to walk in the sun and is scared of garlic, but he gets more girls than my other friends. I am not sure how, but he does.

The change was kind to him, some flaws like acne have been covered over.

"Well seeing I can't sneak up on you, I might as well be direct. I need your blood," he says.

"Dude, what!? No! Go to one of your lady friends!" I reply.

"Dude, it is not like I am magic or anything, well I sort of am, but picking up girls takes finesse. Plus it's not for me," he say producing a zubat from his pocket.

"Remember that bat I caught?" he continues.

"Zubats need blood, and this little guy is hungry. Now before you say anything." He suddenly lunges at me, clamping the tiny Pokemon to my arm. I could do little because I was physically weaker than before. The creature clamped down on my arm so hard that my arm felt like it was in a vice.

The zubat was taking too much blood. My strength ebbed and eventually I blacked out.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

 _I had to end the chapter a little early before the story could really pickup. If your curiosity has been piqued keep an eye out for the next chapter, which I will begin working on ASAP. I am not sure what people will think, I just had a situation in my mind, and ran with it. I could not think of what Pokemon I would be, then the voice in my head said, "Why not all of them!" So yeah, ditto. I not going to do what you think I might do, yes I know how people usually use ditto, but no I am not going there guys._


	2. Chapter 2: Aftermath

_Not too many reviews yet, well, I did just post the first chapter. This took a little longer than I hoped and I hate wasting any amount of time after a cliff hanger._

 **Bold Text is Pokemon speech not including the main character.**

"Hey, hey, HEY!" I jolt awake. I rub my eyes and adjust to Taylor's dimly lit apartment. He laid me out on the sofa in his living room.

"Sorry about that, I didn't know you were..." Taylor trailed off.

"Huh?" My heart raced, I pray he didn't find out I was a Pokemon.

"Deficient in iron," he finished his sentence.

"Uh...yeah...hehe, I am also low on protein too," I added. Taylor reaches into his mini fridge, blinking at the sudden light from his fridge. He pulls out two small chocolate milk cartons.

"Catch" he tosses one to me.

"Did you know that all body fluids, that includes milk have trace amounts of blood in it?" He said.

"I didn't know," I replied. He raises his carton, "Cheers." He the proceeds to bite into the side of the carton, like the neck of a young supple milkmaid, draining it's contents. This was a spectacle I am used to by now, since highschool.

"Drink up, it's fortified with iron," he urged. I open the carton and give the chocolate milk a sip. The cold milk hit my empty stomach like an ice cube down the shirt. Taylor sits next to me on the sofa.

"Things are getting wild out there, it is utter chaos outside the gates of our college. I've even heard tell that PETA, has devolved into a full blown terrorist group in some regions in California," he said.

"California, that's a good ways away from Alabama. Plus those folks are weird anyhow," I reply.

"I will admit, California is weird, but there is still chaos even in the streets of Birmingham. Folks don't know how to handle the sudden existence of Pokemon, many aren't taking it well. I for one am a little more optimistic. You won't get too many wild Pokemon in the city, but there is enough wooded areas that you will get the sporadic wild Pokemon attacks. You should keep a Pokemon on hand for self defense," he explained.

"Not sure how I'd do that, there's no Pokeballs to be had,"I replies.

"Even in the Pokemon universe they didn't always have Pokeballs. I caught some the old fashioned way. The best way to any beast's heart is it's stomach," Taylor said.

He gave a sharp whistle. In flew his Zubat, followed by a Paras, a Ghastly, and a Grimer from the hallway to his room.

"We'll do this like the games. Pick one as your starter, the rest you will find along whatever adventures you have. By the way, you should stick to six period, since we don't have a PC system like in the games. Just a side note," said Taylor, motioning to the Pokemon assembled.

"Also," he quickly added, "The Zubat is mine! Don't touch."

Both Paras and Grimer were poison types, but Paras could learn sleep powder, poison powder etc... But then again ghastly could eventually lear-

"Ralts!" what I assume was a Ralts cried faintly from the hallway, followed by the pitter patter of footsteps.

The Pokemon approached Taylor, "Ralts!" It said, pointing frantically at me.

"Him, really? Dangit, I wanted to be your trainer," Taylor sighed, "Fine, fine, you can go."

The Ralts did a polite curtsy to Taylor then looked at me, and walked over.

"Um...Hello," I reply awkwardly.

"She already has a name, she can read and write, that's how I know her name. Talking now, that's is another story," said Taylor.

"Her name?" I ask.

"Oh, right, it's Nathaira, a bit odd sounding," he said.

"Sounds Scottish," I reply.

Nathaira nods with a smile. My stomach growls.

"Drink up, I'll pull my truck around and take us to the cafeteria. Nathaira won't eat the cat food I've been giving the other guys so let's see what she might eat there," said Taylor.

I down my milk, put Nathaira on my shoulder, and head out the door. Taylor had his truck pulled up and we both jumped into the truck bed. I held fast to the side of the truck bed, and Nathaira clutched my shirt with her tiny hands.

We pull out of the school's apartment complex and head towards the campus over yonder.

I pull out my phone, and open a word processing app.

"Use this, I'll hold on to you," I say, putting my arms around her so she could keep her hands free.

 **"Thanks! :)"**

"No problem, I got a question," I reply.

 **"Shoot"**

"What moves do you know?" I ask.

 **"Not sure if it works that way lol"**

"Not sure, in martial arts, different kicks, punches, and other actions are arranged into katas. Anyway, what are you able to do?" I ask.

 **"I guess when you put it like that. I have mild telepathic ability, while I can't read minds or communicate using those powers yet I can use them to cause pretty bad disorientation. I can also lift objects about the size of your phone. I have also sometimes been able to generate small amounts of electricity when I focus really hard"**

"Disorientation, wouldn't that be like the move confusion? Not to mention the electrokinesis isn't that thundershock?" I ask.

 **"Oh my! You are quite right!"**

"One more question," I add.

 **"Shoot"**

"Pokemon have only been around for less than a day, how do you already have a name, and know how to read and write and have a TM move?" I ask.

Nathaira looks up at me wordlessly, wind whipping at her hair briefly exposing her red eyes.

"S-sorry, I-I didn't mean to-" I am interrupted by her holding up the phone.

 **"Sorry, that's a secret"**

She then quickly writes, **"No not at all, I understand your curiosity"**

"We're here!" Taylor calls from within the truck.

We pull into a roundabout on the East wing of the student center that contains the cafeteria.

 **"What's going on there?"** Nathaira points to a crowd gathering around the fountain in front of the student center.

"Not sure, I should probably check it out," I said.

I put Nathaira onto my shoulder and get out of the truck. The engine revs up again. I look back.

"Taylor, aren't you going to get something to eat?" I ask.

Taylor rolls down his window. "Naw man, I hate crowds. Plus I got food at my dorm. Even if they have class today, I'm still going to use this as an excuse to play hookie. I am going to have an Assassin's Creed marathon at my dorm. I'll see you later," said Taylor.

"See you!" I reply.

He wheels his truck out from under the awning and drives away. I then turn towards the crowd to see the ruckus.

"C'mon let us in!"

"Stop being a dick!"

"We'll call the cops asshole!"

The crowd was angry, then over the din, a woman's voice on loudspeaker rings out, "Attention students of Birmingham College, I am sure you will be pleased to hear class is canceled...BY ORDER OF TEAM ROCKET!"

"OH Fuck you! I'm hungry! Let us into the student center you weeboo bastards!" a student yells.

I turn my attention to the front entrance of the student center. Standing there was two individuals wearing black Team Rocket uniforms, a man and a woman.  
The man had red spiky hair, and the woman long flowing light purple hair.

The woman steps forward with the megaphone, "Hmph! If you ungrateful brats will be like that..." She pulls out a gun, "Start running or I shoot!"

The crowd begins to flee. Soon the area surrounding the front entrance was empty of people. It was now so silent I could almost hear the blood running through my veins. The woman pulls the trigger, a stream of water runs from barrel of the pistol, it was a squirt gun.

"So gullible. Hey Clyde, should we radio to the boss that we've secured a proper HQ now?" the woman asks.

"I reckon so Bonnie," Clyde replied.

I quickly texted Taylor to let him know what was going on, and asked for backup.

 **"I think I can take them :D"**

"You sure?" I ask.

 **"Do we have a choice? If they radio in, they will get reinforcements. Plus, Birmingham college is our home, I'd prefer not to move out. We need to attack now, if we wait for Taylor it will be too late."**

"Fine fine" I said.

"AHEM! ATTENTION WEEBOO ASSHOLES!" I call out.

"What was that?" says Bonnie, giving me the evil eye while pulling out the squirt gun.

"You aren't scarring me with that," I yell back.

I begin walking to the fountain.

"What?!" Bonnie blanched.

"Surprise motherfucker!" I shout.

Nathaira gives me a funny look. "What? I always wanted to say that," I mutter.

"Fine, if you are going to be like that, Carvanha use bite!" Bonnie shouts, tossing her Pokemon at us. I put down Nathaira, she hands me the phone so it won't get damaged.

"Nathaira, that is a dark type, avoid using confusion, try thunderbolt," I whisper to her.

She nods and moves to the battlefield. The Carvanha is clumsy hopping about on land, but it seems to be able to move just fine on land. It begins to move towards Nathaira with the intent to bite, but she was able to side step. She then fired a bolt of lightning from her red horn at the target, it connects knocking the Carvanha on it's side.

"Carvanha! Use scald!" Bonnie shouts.

The Carvanha recovers from it's fall and spits scalding hot water at Nathaira. She was able to avoid the brunt of the attack, but it clipped her arm, leaving a burn. She winces in pain, but snaps into focus to launch another thunderbolt. The Carvanha faints.

"Grrr, how dare you!" Bonnie growls. She grabs her fainted Pokemon and retreats back.

"Clyde! Do something!" she nags.

"Audible sigh, fine fine. Houndour! Get them!" said Clyde.

Before Nathaira could react, a Houndour rushes out and bites her. She fainted quickly.

"Nice try kid, looks like you are moving out," said Clyde.

I call to mind the move scald used by the Carvanha. I am unable to hide my evil grin.

"Battle's not over yet!" I reply.

"Oh? You have another pokemon?" asks Clyde.

"Animals were not the only ones that got turned into Pokemon," I reply.

"W-what?! You!?" Clyde says losing his cool demeanor for legit surprise.

"Sure, whatever," say, imitating his earlier attitude.

"Houndour! Attack!" he shouts.

The Houndour, looks back at his trainer in confusion.

"C'mon! Didn't you hear me!" Clyde pleads with his Pokemon.

Before the Houndour could return his attention to me, it was too late. I casually walked up to the Pokemon and puked scalding hot water onto the Houndour. It runs back to it's trainer with it's tail between it's legs whimpering.

I was not undamaged either, because I didn't shift out of my human form, my throat and mouth was burnt a bit by the water. I hide my pain with a scowl, and my inability to speak with an inhuman growl.

"Git!" I manage to rumble. Clyde looked wide eyed.

"Y-you w-wont s-see the last of us!" he stuttered.

"C'mon Clyde, let's get out of here," Bonnie said, tugging at Clyde's arm.

The two quickly flee the scene. I stumble over to Nathaira.

"Na-Nathaira..." I rasp. I fall to my knees next to her. I use what remains of my energy to try and heal my insides. The pain subsides, but my vision grows blurry and I soon feel myself succumb to fatigue.

"I...should...have...ate...breakfast...sooner," I mutter before blacking out.

 _Stay tuned for next chapter!_


	3. Chapter 3: Strange New Circumstances

**Okamib1ue:** _Thank you for the words of encouragement, I will keep working. I figured I am working from a fandom with a much larger pool of fans to deal with than MMZ where I did my first fic. Their interests are diverse, I just need to find the ones that would be interested in my story. I'll keep tweaking the settings until I find out what will make the most visibility, I will also rewrite the description, I suspect it is too ambiguous, and doesn't catch the eye just right. I will continue to write this story regardless of the traffic because I started writing again for the practice, and because I have faith this story has great potential. Each chapter, character, paragraph, and word is a part of me in some way or the other. As for typo's, I will have to wait till Nekosaru can give it a look._

 **Imperator Justinian:** _Hail Justinian of Byzantium, long may you reign! Thank you for your kind words, and pointing out my error, I never played Pokemon conquest so I thought it was a generic protagonist label. I hope that I may continue to entertain you your highness with the best of my ability. Please continue to review, I like hearing from my readers._ _  
_

 **Everyone Else:** _The fun of writing to me is to get reactions. I want to hear your opinions, I will address you each chapter like I did with the above responses. I consider my readers much like friends, I'd like to hold a conversation while I work. Anyhow, enough with my rambling, I shall get on with the story, it's what you came for and I shall not disappoint._

 **-In some mansion elsewhere in the city-**

Bonnie and Clyde enter the dimly lit study. Clyde taking care not to step on one of the opened books lying face down on the floor. By the fireplace a man sits in a luxurious chair facing perpendicular to the fire smoking a cigar, in his hands a Gameboy that he is playing. His features are hidden, silhouetted by the light of the fire.

"Sir, I am sorry to say, but the mission was a failure," said Clyde to the man in the chair.

"I have little patience for incompetence," the man replied setting his Gameboy down on his chair's arm, and shifting in his chair to bring his full attention to the two.

Bonnie interjected, "If it wasn't for that brat-"

"Brat? I equipped you with Pokemon from my former collection of rare animals, which should have been strong enough to deal with any problem. Much better than most people could scrounge up in a single morning to provide any such effective resistance. You are saying you were bested by some college kid with some random critter he found that morning in his back yard?" The man seethed.

"His Pokemon put up a fight, but we managed to deal with them," Clyde added quickly to try an stay his boss's wrath.

"Then what was the hold up?" the man asked.

"H-he WAS a Pokemon, I-I think, I am not sure because he looked quite human, yet he could use Pokemon moves," Clyde replied, somewhat shaken recalling the incident.

The man takes the cigar from his mouth, blowing the smoke from his mouth. His brow furrows, deep in thought. After what felt like a minute, "Bonnie, Clyde," he calls out.

"You are terrible liars," he says.

"But-" Bonnie starts but is silenced with the wave of the man's hand.

"That's how I know you two are telling the truth," the man said.

He continued, "Observe this person to ascertain what he really is. Do not act without my approval, we do not know this individuals loyalties and affiliations. If he's unaffiliated, the last thing we need is for him to side with our potential enemies. Once we learn his weaknesses and loyalties we can make a move. Ideally, we will try to recruit him, but capture is plenty acceptable."

"What about our other objectives?" asked Clyde.

The man holds up a hand to silence Clyde, "Who's leader of this organization? I have started recruitment and training, there is little need for worry. Speaking of recruits, I have one who will be joining you two. I think he will be quite enlightening, given the situation..."

 **-Back at Birmingham College-**

"Hey, hey, HEY!" I am suddenly jolted awake, I blink my eyes in the brightness of the fluorescent lights.

"You sure you aren't narcoleptic?" Taylor asks.

"Huh?" I ask.

"This is the second time you have been unconscious today bro," he replied.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"You sure he alright?" a random lunch lady asks.

"You're at you're destination bub," Taylor replies with a laugh.

"F-FOOD!" I spring to my feet with excitement, my stomach suddenly seizing control of my motor function. My mind snaps back to attention to something a little more important.

"N-Nathaira, where is she?" I ask. I feel a tap on my leg.

 **"I'm fine! :D"**

She looks up with a hint of a smile.

"She woke up before I managed to arrive, and believe me, when I got your text I booked it," said Taylor.

"You boys going to stand around, or will you come in and get something to eat?" The lunch lady at the cash register asks with a smile.

"I'm good, but these two are starved," said Taylor, motioning at me and Nathaira.

"We don't usually serve pets, but I think we can make an exception for the pair of heroes who ensured this cafeteria would be able to serve food today," the lunch lady said, eyeing Nathaira.

Nathaira approaches the lunch lady, phone in hand, **"I'm not a pet!"**

"Sorry, didn't mean to offend you. Anyhow, you two can just move right in. We are still serving breakfast, though it is a little past 10:30, I doubt anyone has gotten a chance to have some. No need to swipe student ID, it's on the house for you today," the lunch lady said.

All I could do is smile and nod as I pass the counter by. The allure of eggs and bacon was far too strong to resist. my legs moving on their own. I went to the serving area, and asked for everything they had, sausage, bacon, egg, biscuit with gravy poured on top, hashbrowns, hell they even brought out the cheese grits!

Nathaira piled her plate even higher than mine. Her red horn glowed slightly, she had so much food she needed assistance from her telekinetic powers to aid her tiny arms. I reach down and pick up my phone with one hand and expertly balancing the plate with the other.

We both find a table to sit at. I help Nathaira put her plate on the table and help her climb into her seat. She motions for the phone.

 **"By the way, I neglected to ask your name."**

"Atticus Lee?" I hear an unfamiliar voice call out.

I am approached by a girl, she has long black hair tied up in a pony tail and tanned complexion. She wears a black T-shirt with a pink skull and crossbones on the front and jean shorts.

"这是你的宠物小精灵吗？(Zhè shì nǐ de chǒngwù xiǎo jīnglíng ma?) (Is this your Pokemon?)" she asks in Mandarin Chinese.

"对她是我的宠物小精灵. (Duì tā shì wǒ de chǒngwù xiǎo jīnglíng. (Yes, this is my Pokemon.)" I reply back.

"唉！太可爱吧！(Āi! Tài kě'ài ba!) (OMG! To cute!)" She says with excitedly pinching Nathaira's cheeks.

"Are you the new Teacher's Assistant?" I ask, this time in English.

"Yes! Are you surprised?" she asks.

"Not really, you saved my ass plenty of times, I probably would not have made it to intermediate without you," I reply.

"Oh, Nathaira, I have not introduced you yet. This is Xiaomei, she is a long time friend of mine, say hi!" I say, looking at Nathaira expectantly.

(Author note Xiaomei is pronounced Sheeow meh ee. Don't fret, I wont throw too much Chinese in y'all's faces just here I wanted to illustraite a bit of personal backstory. btw if you are curious about the Chinese character spelling it's 小美 not to be confused with 小妹. (Little sister same pronunciation different tones.) Pardon my Kool Aid manning the fourth wall.)

 **"Does Nathaira have to stab a bitch?"** She holds up the phone with one hand and massages her reddened cheek with the other. Her red eyes smolder behind her bowl cut like embers in the core of a dying bonfire.

"Don't teach her such rude words Atticus!" said Xiaomei.

I see Nathaira angrily typing something into the phone shoot a look at her before she could show it to Xiaomei. She quickly erases the message and types something else.

 **"Sorry..."** she shows Xiaomei the phone.

"Oh no harm no foul," she said giving Nathaira a hard pat on the back with a villainous smile. Xiaomei sits with us, setting down her plate. Before she could lift her fork, Nathaira and I began to tear into our food like lions into a wildebeest. She watched in astonishment a minute, before shrugging, "I've been there," then proceeded to have her food.

I eventually put down my fork to come up for some air, and have a sip of orange juice. Then it suddenly hit me to ask, "Do we have class today?"

Xiaomei looks up from her food, blinked as if she were having trouble processing the question.

She finally spoke up, "Yah, sure, we have class...why wouldn't we?"

"Well, shit I missed my morning class," I say as I skewer few pieces of scrambled egg with a fork.

"THE CITY IS IN ANARCHY AND YOU ARE WORRYING ABOUT CLASS! JEEZE MAN! GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT!" Xiaomei finally burst out incredulous.

"Well excuse me for not checking the news, I was too busy liberating this here cafeteria from Team Rocket," I reply with a laugh.

"I know, I was just trolling you, class is cancelled, and the school president scheduled an emergency meeting in an hour and thirty minutes that we all must attend. By the way you've become the talk of the campus. Many people have come to regard Pokemon with fear, yet here you are fighting along side one and winning back the campus from armed aggressors," said Xiaobei.

I casually glance a pair of girls conversing, they seemed to be looking my way, but quickly averted their gaze when I looked up. I shovel the last bit of food into my mouth.

Nathaira holds up the phone, **"I don't like the thought of having people's attention, I noticed their gaze boring into the back of my head for a while now. I thought it was just because I was a Pokemon in a generally humans only area, but I am starting to see why."**

"It is annoying, but at least it is positive attention, heck, we're heroes now," I reply, trying to reassure her.

 **"Heroes...um..sure..."**

"Once the hype dies down it won't be so bad," reassured Xiaomei.

"Hopefully..." I add.

"I have to do a few things before the emergency announcement, I will leave you two for now," said Xiaomei, getting up from the table. Soon Nathaira and I were alone.

"What do you think of Xiaomei?" I ask.

 **"meh :/"**

"She will grow on you after a while. It's always awkward meeting new people for the first time," I reply.

Nathaira gives no response, looking down at her empty plate. I suddenly felt...almost...awkward... The "silence" was broken with Nathaira suddenly typing something into the phone.

 **"What is she to you?"**

I was suddenly taken aback by the sudden personal question. Then again, if she is to be my Pokemon partner I should share this sort of information with her.

"We've been friends since I was a sophomore, she was a foreign student who directly enrolled here from China. I met her when she was a freshmen. We had similar interests and quickly became best friends. She is the coolest person I know. I can talk to her about anything, and not feel awkward," I said. Though I cringed at my inability to explain well how special she is to me.

 **"You like her?"**

"Um...yes...I think you are right...I do like her," I managed to stutter. She's right, I think I am in love with her.

 **"I don't see it."**

The words almost stabbed me like a knife. "So...brutal..." I caught myself saying aloud.

 **"Brutally honest that is! ba dum dum tss! XD"**

I cringed at the terrible pun, which was somehow worse that anything else she said.

 **"In seriousness, I am supposed to be your partner, so we should be honest with each other."**

"Naw I think you just don't like her," I said. She this time looked like the one who was to cringe now.

I bask in the schadenfreude for a moment before adding, "I'm right on the mark aren't I?"

 **"I can use my psychic powers to cause you to sh!t yourself"**

"You wouldn't," I replied incredulously.

 **"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"**

"Fine fine, I'm sorry," I replied.

 **"So how do you plan on passing the time until the meeting?"**

"Not sure, goof off in the computer lab?" I replied.

 **"Sure, I got nothing better to do"**

(To be continued) 


	4. Chapter 4: Andrew

**denis.d2505:** _I am glad you find this interesting too. I think without a doubt, if we ended up in a similar situation we'd have Team Rocket. More like Team Rocket's, there would probably many copycats, that is exactly what has happened here. As for the last point, there are many secrets abound, not necessarily just Atticus's. I should not speak too much, I don't want to give out spoilers._

 **Everyone Else:** _Feel free to leave reviews, I will try to respond to them each chapter. Love you guys, and enjoy the story._

I sit in the darkened computer lab Nathaira in my lap, our faces illuminated by the one screen that is turned on. The YouTube video we were watching concludes.

 **"We got 20 minutes until the meeting"**

"I see, thanks," I reply.

 **"This college president, what sort of man is he?"**

"He was an ex-general, and a skilled administrator he saved this school from bankruptcy. He view the students and faculty as his "platoon." While he could afford better he stays in student housing, and eats at the school cafeteria," I explain.

 **"He sounds like you admire him"**

"We all do, he is a great person," I reply.

 **"We should probably get going."** She pointed at the time, it read 11:50

"Right!" I replied, realizing the urgency of the time. I exit out of the browser, and put Nathaira on my shoulder and quickly find myself rushing for the stairs and out the door of the science building.

We headed through the back ways behind the humanities building, and went in through the back door to the student center. We hightailed it up the stairs that greeted us to the third floor. The third floor was a massive great hall designed to house many students in the event of a reception or a speaker came to the campus.

The room was awash with the din of many clamoring voices. At the head of the room was an elevated temporary stage set up. We made our way through the crowd of students to a point in which we could get a good view of the stage.

 **"I don't like crowds, it this meeting really mandatory?"**

"It is, I'm sorry, but just bear with me for now, it wont be long," I replied.

"Atticus!" I hear a familiar voice call out.

"Andrew?" I call out.

Through the crowd a pudgy guy with curly brown hair and stereotypical nerd glasses cuts through the crowd towards us. His leather jacket just barely covering Haruhi Suzumiya's face, with the lettering spelling "OBEY" underneath.

"Dude, I got to say, the girl's on this campus, 20% hotter!" said Andrew.

"Chances of scoring still at an all time low," I shrug.

"Haha, you'd think so! The perverted protagonist always score in the end, that is good news for the both of us!" replied Andrew with an evil grin.

But what about this? I ask puffing out my cheeks.

"Ever seen Accel World?" Andrew countered.

"Touche," I reply.

"Damn straight," Andrew replies with folded arms.

"And before you say, Oh well the hero has special powers! I got the best steel and electric types I could find! I'll be a tough one to beat!" He said as he continues to gloat.

"A themed Pokemon team? Like a gym leader or minor villain...Or perhaps the perverted friend character who never scores?" I reply with a evil grin. With that Andrew appeared destroyed, and all the color of his face melted away.

"N-Never s-scores!?" he whimpered as a dark cloud of dejection rained down upon his countenance.

 **"You mentioned good news for the both of you?"**

"Huh" Andrew raised his head for a moment.

"She can write? Wow she can write?! Atticus! I knew you never stopped being a pervert! Why else would anyone get a Ralts but to evolve into a hot Gardevoir!" Andrew excitedly shouted, drawing uncomfortable amounts of attention.

 **"Dare I ask what my master is like Andrew?"**

"You call him master? Cute! My friend! He probably payed for his college from selling panty shots in highschool," he said with a laugh.

Nathaira looked in my direction with a disappointed look on her face.

"Do you seriously believe him!" I ask incredulously.

Nathaira just looks at me wordlessly. That alone was enough to destroy me. Surely this is a joke, she is acting like she believes him to troll me. Then again, she has never met me before today she could believe anything anyone says about me.

She silently turns her red eyed away from me towards the stage. Before I could say so much as a word of protest I was interrupted by the sound of a woman's voice over a loudspeaker.

"Sorry for the long wait, I give you College President, General Kane," the speaker blared, followed by clapping.

Stepping to the stage was a short unassuming man in his sixties. The corners of his eyes bore smile wrinkles, and he had a thin grey mustache. Overall his appearance did not look like someone who was a general, but he had charisma that could hold the attention of a room without even the need to speak.

"Students of Birmingham college, I come before all of you in a time of great turmoil in both this country, and this school. The world as we knew it ended overnight. The city outside this university's gates is on fire, and some of our students have gone missing in the chaos," the president said without an ounce of panic in his voice.

"I say look to the sky!" he accentuated this statement pointing a finger upwards.

"The world may have ended, but the sun still rose this day! It may look different, we may look different, but we are alive and that means we can do something with our lives. You came to this university for this exact reason we will not close these doors. Classes resume as normal starting tomorrow," he continued. His last words causing some students to murmur.

"Of course I have not taken into account the danger, and if it were not for the actions of one brave student, I would have closed this campus if I were not first forced from the premises by Team Rocket," he added.

"This student who I will keep unnamed should be an example to the people of this nation, no, the world to take this change in situation not as a disaster, but a simple change in circumstances to be used to land back on one's feet. So I have done the same and decided to take measures to keep this campus safe from future attacks by either wild Pokemon, or organizations such as Team Rocket. Before I leave the mic to your SGA President Ms. Josephine, I would also like to ask the individual who helped defend this building to meet me at my office at 4:00 so that I may take a moment to speak with him," General Kane concluded motioning for someone offstage to take the mic.

The mic was taken up by a young woman in a white women's suit and high heels. She had long blonde hair and thick brown angry looking eyebrows that did not match her hair, somehow it disturbed the OCD person inside me. The students milled about and murmured amongst themselves and lost their focus on the stage.

"ATTENTION!" she shrieked with a click of the heel. Suddenly the attention of the students quickly moved back to the stage.

"We have not time for layabouts! Those who don't pull their weight can leave. In order to ensure the safety and prosperity of this university, steps must be taken towards it's defense. Hence I am here to announce the foundation of a military branch to the SGA. All able Pokemon battlers are welcome and encouraged to enlist. Those who are unable or unwilling to enlist stay out of our way and DON'T get under our feet. Those who do enlist will attend class like usual, but don't think for a minute that not enlisting will excuse you from attending a mandatory Pokemon battling class. All students must be able to defend themselves and this school in the event of another team rocket attack," she blared over the microphone.

"I have said what I had to say, I will not repeat myself. Internalize what I have said or get out!" she concluded before stepping off the stage.

"I heard she got into her position because the other SGA candidates went missing during the chaos of the great change," Andrew murmured in my ear.

Josephine stepped back onto the stage and picked up the microphone, "To the fat piece of shit in the back who claimed I was not duly elected, it's not like you voted in the SGA elections you troglodyte!"

"Holy crap! S-she noticed me!" whispered Andrew with a blush, not realizing that the entire room was dead silent, so everyone could hear him.

"I-idtiot! I-I didn't notice you!" she said flustered, not realizing the fact that is exactly what she did.

"Classic tsundere response, I am totes giving her the "D" before the end of this fic! She's even an "S" to match my "M"!" Andrew said giddy, still ignorant to the fact everyone can hear him.

Josephine's face turned fire engine red and had an expression of revulsion before she weakly responded, "f-f-f-f-f-FUCK Y-YOU!"

Andrew responds this time calling out, "YES PLEASE!"

"Uggg! YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE!" she balks and leaves the stage flustered.

The crowd disperses for lunch.

"Atticus!" Xiaomei calls out and approaches us.

"W-Who's this?" Andrew asks.

"Oh just my wife," I reply nonchalant. I am suddenly struck on the head with something large and metallic with a loud clang.

"Don't joke like that!" Xiaomei responds while brandishing a massive wok.

"Where the heck did you get the wok!?" I ask incredulously.

"My back pocket," she responds innocently.

"How?!" I reply.

"Well you see-" she starts but is quickly interrupted by Andrew.

"Hello there my name is Andrew, may I ask your name? Pretty lady," he says suddenly taking on an almost bishounen appearance, pushing up his glasses by the bridge, the light reflected off them obscuring his eyes.

"X-Xiaomei..." she responds.

"Are you Atticus's friend?" she asks.

"Yes, I knew him since highschool," Andrew replies with confidence.

"Oh I see, a friend of Atticus's is a friend of mine!" she replies with a smile.

"F-friend?!" Andrew replies hung up by the word, his confidence evaporating into thin air.

 **"Let's get some food, I am starving! D:"**

"Yah, I'm with her," I reply.

The four of us hit the elevator and head to the cafeteria and get some food and sit down at a table.

"And I shit you not he comes out he comes out of the women's locker room with a slap mark on one cheek, and lipstick kiss mark on the other and the camera in hand!" finished Andrew.

 **"Interesting, so that's how you two met..."**

I have sunk into a deeper and deeper state of angst, shame, and anger as Andrew regales my female friends with embarrassing stories from when we were in highschool.

"By the way Xiaomei, something has been bothering me," Andrew says.

"Hmm? What is it?" she asks.

"What's the cup size on those? I was guessing around A or B, but I don't have the specific measurement so I wouldn't know," he asks pointing at Xiaomei's breasts.

"Wh-whaat?" she stammered.

I see her pull out the wok from behind her back ready to strike. I grab her hand before she could strike.

"No, he's an "M" your painful rebuke would only bring him pleasure," I reply.

"Andrew! I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!" I declare with a dramatic point.

"Wh-what?! Why? I thought we were friends!" Andrew responds incredulous.

"You have crossed a line! I must defend my girlfriend's honor!" I reply emboldened by the chivalrous moral high ground.

I could feel Xiaomei mentally hitting me with a wok with that statement, but restraining the urge to do so physically.

"Fine! Let's take this outside!" responds Andrew.

We head out to an open grassy area near the school's bell tower.

"Are you ready?" Andrew asks.

"Yes, but where is your Pokemon?" I ask.

"Oh that? Hahaha," Andrew gives a sharp whistle and the earth begins to shake.

Emerging from the dirt comes a massive Onix of an odd brownish hue.

"Ready to get your ass beat by my Shiny Pokemon?" Andrew asks.

"Nathaira you sure you can do this?" I ask her, worried to send my one foot tall Pokemon vs the titanic 30 foot something beast.

She wordlessly hands me my phone and steps forward.

"Onix! Use rock throw!" Andrew shouted.

The massive Onix launched large rocks approximately the size of my head at Nathaira. She managed to dodge, but the shrapnel of pebbles, dirt, and grass knocked her down. She looked visibly in pain, my heart sank, she may not be able to stand up against the Onix.

A few stray bits of grass slowly flitted towards the ground in front of Nathaira's face. She suddenly had this look understanding, followed by a smile.

"Nathaira use-" I was interrupted by a sudden gust of wind. Leaves from a nearby tree rush past my head. They had a strange glow to them. Nathaira directed them at the Onix. The leaves cut into it's rocky form, causing it to cry out in pain.

"Onix, use rage!" Andrew shouts.

The Onix rushes forward with anger in it's eyes, but is suddenly stopped by Nathaira using disarming cry. It became rooted in place with guilt, Nathaira responds with another torrent of magic leaves, this time much bigger than before. The Pokemon finally succumbed to the leaves and fainted.

"Do you have any other Pokemon that can battle?" I ask.

"No I left them at my dorm," Andrew replied.

"Then go apologize to Xiaomei!" I respond.

"You were the chosen one Atticus! It was said you would destroy the normalfags not join them! Bring balance to the Virginity, not leave it in darkness!" Andrew shouted melodramatically.

"Apologize to Xiaomei!" I reiterate more agitated than before.

"You were my brother! I loved you!" Andrew replied with Oscar winning tears in his eyes.

"APOLOGIZE TO XIAOMEI!" I shout.

"Fine..." he said with resignation.

"sr...y" he grumbled

"What was that?" I reply.

"SORRY!" he says.

"For what?" I ask.

"Asking Xiaomei her cup size!" he said, just as a couple girls walk past to hear and both give Andrew a WTF expression.

"And?" I continue.

"Being a troglodyte pervert in public," he replies with a sigh.

"Good, I hope you learned your lesson," I say with hands on my hips.

"NEVAHHHH!" He shouts defiantly and rides away on his Onix.

"Um...what?" asks Xiaomei.

 **"Shh don't question it, he must go his own path"** She saluted Andrew as he rode off.

"...sure...," said Xiaomei.

"That was some excellent battling," a familiar female voice called out from behind us.

The three of us turn around. It's Josephine.

"I hope you don't mind I took the liberty to record that battle. The General has got to see it. I won't waste my time trying to talk you into joining us right now, but just know, you will probably be hearing from me again," she said.

Josephine gives me and Nathaira a once over before smiling.

"I'll see you later today, I have business elsewhere. See you in a few hours!" she said before turning to leave.

(TO BE CONTINUED) 


	5. Chapter 5: General Kane

**Author's Note:** _Soooooo...How's things going on y'all's end? Things been pretty boring for me, just daily routine stuff. Though it beats stressful college stuff. On the weekends I have been drawing again. I am working on cover art for this story, instead of the current picture, while funny, doesn't fit well into the story. Anyhow, y'all didn't come here to heat me ramble. The show must go on!_

- _When the text looks like this, it stands for psychic Pokemon speech.-_

A few heads of a few curious onlookers turn to stare as I pass by, heading towards the administration building.

 **"Cat's officially out of the bag."**

I enter up the steps of an old antebellum style building, and step into the foyer. An old clerk lady was just passing by.

"Excuse me ma'am, where is the General's office?" I ask.

"Upstairs on the left," she says in a grandmotherly Southern accent.

"Thank you ma'am," I reply, and turn to walk up the stairs.

I get to the top of the stairway, low and behold on the left a door that's nameplate read "President Kane."

 **"I am somewhat nervous."**

"It's no problem, General Kane is the easiest guy to get along with," I reply.

I reach my hand out and knock on the door.

"Come in," I hear the man's voice call from within. I open the door with a creak into General Kane's neat office. The walls are lined with bookshelves, behind the general is a window which gives a view of the bell tower. In the corner of the office, just under the window is a globe.

General Kane motions to a luxurious leather armchair in front of his desk for me to sit.

"I have been looking forward to seeing you, I am glad you heeded my request on such a short notice," said the general.

"No problem, happy to give you a moment of my time," I reply.

"Not many student's had the courage to stand up to those aggressors, but you did," He said.

"It was nothing, once I figured out their gun was fake I thought it would be easy to rough them up. It turned out they also had Pokemon, they did end up putting up quite the fight. I just barely won that fight. My partner fortunately is tougher than she looks," I reply.

Nathaira gives a short curtsy.

 **"A pleasure to meet you."**

"And a pleasure to meet you too. I guess I also have you to thank for protecting this school," the general responds with a smile reaching forward to shake her small hand.

"Anyhow, what counts is that the both of you won, I have also gotten reports of you winning a battle against another student, this is talent I need. I need talented battlers to lead the Campus Self Defense Force that I am putting together. Few students adapted to the situation as well as you, that is something I need in a good soldier, what say you?" the general asks.

"I am flattered, but I am terrible at time management, I need to focus on classes. That and Nathaira, doesn't like crowds. I will of course attend battling classes, and should the need arise, and the campus is under attack, I'll pitch in with the rest of the civilians," I reply.

"Oh well, I understand, thank you once again for your time. If you change your mind, you can just talk with Miss Josephine. Don't be too offended if I try to lure your membership with benefits for CSDF participants," he replied with a twinkle in his eye.

"Thank you for your time sir," I reply.

"No, thank you, and good luck with your classes," he replied.

I step out of the general's office and start down the stairs. I hear a second set of footsteps.

"Josephine?" I ask.

"How did you know?" she asks.

"Not sure, maybe some sort of sixth sense," I reply.

I wasn't quite sure, maybe some of Nathaira's psychic ability has leaked into me by osmosis by now, quite plausible given that I am a ditto.

"Either you are good at guessing, or you just got instinct," said Josephine.

"Still not sure myself," I shrug. Josephine quickly closes the distance between the two of us. Her face was just an inch from mine her cerulean eyes seemed to stare into my soul. Which was quite awkward, this chick be tripping if she can just up an pop my personal bubble. My reverie is broken as she leans closer to whisper in my ear.

"The general may take no for an answer, but I don't. This is my campus, and you will be mine sooner or later," she whispered. She takes a step back before giving me another once over, followed by an evil smile. She brushes past me down the stairs, then I hear it. Clip clop clip clop go her high heels.

That's how I knew! I suddenly realize.

 **"Nathaira gonna stab a bitch."**

"Relax, there isn't anything she can do to get me to join. The CSDF would require time, of which I lack. She can't milk blood from a turnip," I reply.

 **"Do the women on this campus do you like the skrawny kid in the prison showers? Plus, almond milk is apparently a thing, almonds don't have tits, yet they still managed to milk that."**

"Um...What?" I ask.

 **"What I am getting at is if she is determined enough she could force you to join the CSDF, regardless of how painful it is for you."**

"The only time she could supposedly take from me is what I use for sleep...oh shit," I reply.

 **"I hope she didn't hear that, you could be your own worst enemy sometimes..."**

"We should bone up on some battling skills in that case," I reply.

 **"I noticed a wooded area near the appartments that might have some wild Pokemon that we could train against."**

"Good idea," I reply.

-An Hour later-

Lightning flashed from Nathaira's red horn, striking a Scatterbug in a tree. It faints in one hit.

 **"These wild Pokemon are far too weak, I wont get stronger battling them. What about trainers?"**

"They will have had to catch Pokemon from around here, they might not be any stronger," I reply.

Nathaira turns to me an pouts.

 **"I was caught around this area!"**

I seem to have offended her.

She seemed to have read my dismayed expression, because quickly responded with, **"Don't give me that look, I was just trolling you. I know I am different from the other Pokemon here!"**

"Hm? how so?" I ask.

Nathaira pouted again.

"What?" I ask.

 **"I am your starter Pokemon! I should be the best thing that happened to you after finding Jesus!"**

The both of us break into a laugh.

I kneel down and pat Nathaira on the head, "In earnest, I do in fact appreciate you very much, and I count myself lucky to have you as a starter Pokemon."

 **"Damn straight! LOL"**

"Hey!" I hear a familiar voice call out.

I turn my head, it's Xiaomei.

"Howdy!" I call back.

She runs along the forest path to us.

"You two up for a battle?" she asks.

I start, "I don-"

"SURE! :)"

"Nathaira seems ready to go, what about you?" asks Xiaomei.

"Fine fine," I reply with resignation.

"Lucius!" calls out Xiaomei.

I hear a rustling in the leaves above and suddenly THUMP! A Lucario leaps between us from the trees above.

 _-"I have come fair maiden! Worry not, I Lucius your faithful Pokemon shall dispense great justice upon these n'ere dowells! As a dog, I was fearless and ever loyal, so shall I be as a Pokemon, for I have found a master worthy of serving!"-_

Lucius reaches out and kisses Xiaomei's hand, still kneeling before her like she was royalty or something. He rises to his feet and falls into a battle stance.

Lightning bursts from Nathaira's horn frying Lucius on the spot.

Despite being blackened from the lighting, it made him all the more intimidating, his expression hardens and his blood red eyes seemed to smolder with anger.

 _-"That hurteth little one, I granted you the first strike because you are a lady, but none more!"-_

With that, Lucius lunged forward in an attempt to engage in close combat, despite all his hits landing, it were as if they didn't effect Nathaira as they should have.

She was knocked back a bit but stuck the landing with a grace one would not expect from her clumsy looking form.

 **"I'll show you a punch you mut!"**

She then zapped Lucius with more lightning, whilst laughing maniacally.

 **"POWER! UNLIMITED POWER! HAHAHAHAHAHA :D"**

Lucius crumpled to the ground.

 _-"I failed...you...lady Xiaomei..."-_

Lucius fainted.

"EEEK! I lost!" Xiaomei exclaimed. She knelt by Lucius trying to wake him up.

"Ouch," grunted Lucius.

 _-"Methinks that tiny green and white mushroom was stronger than she look. Remindeth me of one time when I was still a dog, I found a black cat with a white stripe down it's back. Just warning ye all, not a cat!"-_

Lucius sits up.

"Lucius! You're okay!" Xiaomei exclaims, throwing her arms around the Lucario for a hug.

 _-"But...Lucius is a bad boy."-_

Lucius looked crestfallen.

"No you did a good, job she was just stronger. Lucius is a good boy," replies Xiaomei.

 _-"REALLY!?"-_

Lucius starts grinning ear to ear and panting like a dog, while Xiaomei scratches him behind the ear.

"Wherever did you find him?" I ask.

"He was wandering about the parking lot this morning, whimpering. He was a stray that used to have owners, but when they moved they just left him in the streets. He is a dog that was transformed into a Pokemon when the world changed," said Xiaomei.

Lucius slowly gets up to his feet and dusts himself off.

 _-"Learning to walk on two legs is quite tiresome, but at least the flees ne'er bite"-_

Suddenly the sound of a siren goes off nearby.

A girl comes running towards us.

"Xiaomei! Your apartment is on fire!" she screams.

We quickly run to the nearby apartment complex where Xiaomei lives. It is engulfed in flame, firefighters trying to dowse the burning apartment.

"I'll handle this one! Jerry use hydropump, or whatever it is you Poke Mans do!" the voice of an old man calls out.

The apartment was soon blasted with water, but the pressure was too strong and most of it was destroyed.

"Shit! You used too much pressure numbnuts!" the voice yelled.

We looked to the source, it was a fire chief from the fire department, and old man with a thick grey mustache and an eyepatch.

He approached the two of us.

"You kids live here?" he asked with an old Sourthern drawl.

"Just me," chimed in Xiaomei.

"What room were you in?" he asked.

"33C," she responded.

"You take your electronics with you to class?" the old fire chief asks.

"Yes sir," she replied.

"Hmm, on the bright side, the most that happened to your stuff is that it got wet, the downside your room is nothing but splinters and rubble. Since it was my bad bringing my grand kid's pet turtle Jerry to work today in the hopes of fighting fires a little more effectively, my boys will see about salvaging what stuff of yours we can," said the fire chief.

"SIR! We got a live one," a fire fighter called out.

A male student carrying a sleeping voltorb in his arms crawled out of the ruins.

"Sniff...I said Voltorb use self destruct jokingly...sniff...Voltorb took in literally!" sobbed the dunce.

"Kid, you're not that bright are you," said the fire chief, clapping a hand on the student's shoulders.

 _-"Lady Xiaomei, are you now stray too?"-_

I heave a sigh, "Looks like we got our work cut out for us."

 **"Muuu :("**

(TO BE CONTINUED)


	6. Chapter 6: Cohabitation and Conflict

**Everyone:** _It took great amounts of self control to resist the urge to continue setting up my PS2 emulator on my computer rather than work on starting this chapter, Y'all pray for me, I need the force of will to start working sometimes, because I can be a lazy ass. Things kept popping up for me to do over the weekend. I made some progress on working on the story's illustration but I am not quite done yet, it will probably be done next weekend. Please do review sometime, I enjoy hearing from fans and I will respond to your reviews via the author notes. The reviews also gives me hints as to what you guys want as readers, naturally as my customers I believe it is my job to entertain you and give you guys exactly what I want. I encourage your participation!_

-A few hours later-

I sit in the side of the curb, observing the rubble and the dying embers. We spent the last few hours sifting through the rubble for Xiaomei's possessions. Her luggage survived, which helped in moving her now ash stained clothes.

Fortunately all the expensive stuff, like her text books and computer was on her person at the time of the fire. There was one casualty, Xiaomei's teddy bear Mister Stuffykins perished in the fire, it was quite heartbreaking for poor Xiaomei, and I was a little saddened too.

We gave him a proper burial in a patch of dirt under the rubble. Lucius probably cried even more than Xiaomei during the mini funeral. Mister Stuffykins was unbeknownst to Xiaomei, Lucius's favorite chew toy.

"YAAOO!" I hear, breaking me from my reverie.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I stubbed my foot on something!" Xiaomei replied.

"What is it?" I asked.

Xiaomei uncovered some rubble.

"It's the fridge, and it looked relatively unburned or waterlogged," she replied.

"Open it up! We can rush anything from it to my fridge just at the end of the row of apartments," I reply.

Me, Xiaomei, our Pokemon, and a few helpful passers by helped move the contents of Xiaomei's fridge, and what survived from the cabinets to my apartment.

I place some hot peppers in my fridge's crisper.

"It is probably the most full it has ever been with me as a resident," I think aloud to myself as I observe the lone banana at the back of the fridge which consisted of my apartment's sole food supply up until now.

I feel a tug at my pant leg.

 **"Is this what heaven looks like?"**

Nathaira has also observed the massive smorgasbord that was Xiaomei's food.

"Hey! You two help me with this!" I hear Xiaomei call out.

We both wiped the drool from our faces and hop to it. Both our jaws drop when we see Xiaomei and Lucius lug in a giant suitcase.

"W-w-w-Wait! I don't think this is allowed," I stammer.

 **"No girls allowed! :C"**

"Like I will leave my food unguarded in your clutches! Laughable!" replied Xiaomei.

"No no we wouldn't do something like that!" I reply.

"Ya, I and I'll bet you were not drooling over my food just now right? I'll share some, but only if you let me room here," she replied.

"Really! Though what about your roommate?" I ask.

"She's a b!tch, I have been sexiled on a night before a major exam one to many times. She shall sleep in the street~!" Xiaomei replied.

 **"Mental note, don't piss off Xiaomei."**

"Agreed," I nod.

"By the way, a good bit of this food I stole from my roommate, so if she comes along asking, just tell her it was all a casualty of the fire," Xiaomei replied.

 **"Terrible..."**

I nod in agreement.

"What did she say?" asked Xiaomei, pointing at Nathaira.

"N-nothing," I reply.

"Damn right better be nothing, I am damned cranky and you don't want me as an enemy!" she said.

"Xiaomei?" I ask.

"What?!" she snapped.

"Just sit down, We'll see about getting you moved in, just rest," I reply.

"Huh? Umm...sure, thank you," she replied, sobered by the show of kindness.

I cringed at the thought of sharing a room, I had even payed extra for an apartment to myself, though the room was set up with furniture to accommodate two. I left the extra bed set up in case of such an event as this.

She didn't sit like we hoped she would. It took us well into the evening to get all her things situated. All the while she was cooking something. We were alerted to her being up to no good, when Lucius accidentally walked through the gas cloud from her witch's brew and fell into a coughing fit, and fell unconscious.

Nathaira was of limited help given her stature, and her psychic abilities only helped with some smaller articles, I did more of the heavy lifting.

I wipe some sweat from my brow and take a moment to catch my breath.

"Atticus! Dinner is ready!" Xiaomei calls from the other room. I limp into the room and sit at the table. Lucius is sitting to my left but still out like a light. Xiaomei revives him by pouring a cup of water on his face.

 _-"THE BURNING MY LUNGS! Oh...I...I'm awake, I see."-_

Lucius seemed to snap back to attention.

Xiaomei sits across from me, and sets down a steaming plate, of what looks like meat chopped up with green hot peppers and a bowl of rice.

 **"After seeing what happened to Lucius, I don't know if I want to try it."**

 _-"My courage is somewhat dampened Lady Xiaomei, forgive my weakness."-_

"More for us then, right Atticus?" Xiaomei says with a wink.

"R-Right," I respond, I too had some trepidation, but the hunger I worked up was far greater.

I grab some chop sticks and begin filling my bowl with rice, then place some of the dish Xiaomei cooked up on top.

"You keep quite a lot of chopsticks, I am quite surprised you would keep so many stocked," said Xiaomei.

"Didn't you know, I am quite good at cooking Japanese food," I reply.

"Really? I didn't know, I didn't take you as someone who could cook, why Japanese?" asked Xiaomei.

"My dad can cook Indian food and dabbles with Korean, my mom cooks French food, and my brother cooks Cajun food, my family's interest in food are diverse. I'd like to try traveling to Japan one day, I'm not too much of a weeboo am I?" I ask.

"I am probably worse than you when it comes to that. By the way, what do you think of the food?" asks Xiaomei.

I realize I have not touched the food yet. I look up and see Xiaomei staring back with expecting eyes. I look back at the food, take a deep breath and get a hunk of rice with some of the hot pepper and meat on it.

Dragon fire, dragon fire was all I could think. It was like the joyous romp of a mighty dragon through an unsuspecting village, mouthwatering joy and excruciating painful hellfire in one masochistic foodgasm.

The pork was both chewy and tender, and the hot pepper set my mouth ablaze while the heat of the rice was salt in the wound. It was both wonderful and terrible at once.

From one bite I began to sweat under the eyes, my nose ran, and I am quite sure my face is now as red as a monkey's ass.

 **"Oh God, she's killed him! I will avenge you! :0"**

A small charge of electricity gathered in Nathaira's horn, I quickly wave to stop her. She looks back at me with questioning eyes.

I manage to swallow, before I could speak up, a much needed bottle of water was handed to me.

I gulped it down in one swig but it was not enough.

I quickly rush outside my door, and slam it shut behind me, unfurling a mighty fireblast that would put a Charizard to shame.

"Looks like I learned a new move," I chuckle to myself.

Walking back inside, Xiaomei was just behind the door.

"WIMP!" she laughed.

"Actually, I enjoyed it," I replied.

"You better!" she laughed.

"I was mentally ready for the fact the Sichuanese food is really spicy, but you sure caught me off guard. Cook that for Andrew he'd love you forever!" I reply.

"You are starting to make me think you are a masochist too," she laughed.

We return to the table and have more to eat. It was difficult, but through great trial, struggle, and pain, I enjoyed my meal.

"Let's get some sleep, it has gotten late, and I am sure we are all are dead tired after this really long day," said Xiaomei.

I step into my room, but suddenly feel a sharp pain and a loud gong.

"Ow! Why did you hit me with the wok?" I asked as I massaged my aching head.

"I just needed to shake loose a few unsavory thoughts before we share a room," said Xiaomei with an evil smirk.

"Damn, like I would ever do that to you!" I growl angrily at her. I climb into bed, I was too dead tired to give a damn about whether I was wearing pajamas or not.

"Sorry," she replied as she climbed into the bed adjacent to mine.

"Good night," I reply.

"Good night," she said.

-A Few Hours Later, Nathaira's POV-  
(Author's note: -"this means poke speech"-)

Nathaira could not sleep, thoughts seemed to mull about her head without end and it was driving her nuts. After a moment of consideration she decides to take a step outside to the balcony for a breath of fresh air.

-"This atmosphere is heavy, it does little to ease my mind,"- Nathaira thought aloud.

From below a Zubat comes flitting up from the apartment below.

-"Banquo?"- asked Nathaira.

-"Aye,"- replied the Zubat.

-"Is it me, or is there something oppressive about the air tonight?"- asked Nathaira.

-"Hmhmhmhm, you must be a Yank from up North, it's the humidity, not the most pleasant but with time you will get used to it,"- replied Banquo.

-"Something on your mind?"- asked Banquo.

-"Um...yes,"- replied Nathaira.

-"Something to do with once being a human right?"- Banquo asked.

-"Why yes,"- Nathaira replied.

-"I know little of human things seeing that I was never human, but I will listen, and offer advice as needed,"- said Banquo.

-"I think I like my trainer,"- said Nathaira.

-"Good, it is good you have been paired with a trainer you can get along with,"- replied Banquo.

-"No no like, I...I think I am in love with him,"- Nathaira replied.

-"I understand you were once human, but we must all play the cards we are dealt. Not to mention, the whole interspecies thing would be just plain icky, I am sure there is a handsome whatever it is you are out there for you to mate with,"- replied Banquo.

-"But it is hard to shake, I could sense him, I knew his personality before I even saw his face,"- Nathaira replied.

-"What you have is just puppy love. Love is a lot more than simple infatuation, do your best to shake these thoughts, it is not your destiny, for it was providence that made us what we are today. Once you move on, you will be much happier. I must go for now, the night is young and I would like to enjoy the moonlight while it lasts, good luck to you I am sure you will do what is right,"- said Banquo before taking flight into the dark.

Nathaira is left in silence, the swirly thoughts in her mind now stirring faster than before.

For a few minutes Nathaira sat there but her reverie is broken by an uncharacteristically cold wind carrying distant voices. The grew closer, before what they were say could be heard.

-"Fair is foul, and foul is fair;  
Hover through the fog and filthy air."-

The voices chanted on. Finally the source of the voices could be seen, three Ghastly's floating through the air by the balcony.

They stopped and turned their gaze towards Nathaira.

-"Hail, Nathaira lover of Atticus,"- said one.

-"Hail, Nathaira lover of man,"- said the other.

-"Hail, Nathaira lover of ditto,"- said the last.

-"W-What?"- Nathaira stuttered at the strange greeting.

-"Greymalkin, shall we tell her?"- snickered one.

-"Yes Paddock, let's,"- snickered the other.

The third Ghastly spoke, -"Atticus is also a Pokemon, transformed into a ditto. human, yet not, Pokemon, yet not. His feet are in both worlds, yet part of neither."-

-"W-WHAAAAT!?"- gasped Nathaira

The three snickered.

-"You wish for him to love you? How could he love such a strange malformed creature like yourself?"- said one.

-"Evolve if you wish to be with him,"- said the other.

-Tear him away from the world of humans,"- said the third.

-"Tell not your secret, he will only know before the end of your life,"- said the last.

-"W-Wait, if I am to evolve, what do I do?"- Nathaira asks.

-"A Gardevoir you must be to claim him,"- said one.

-"So find the weakened Salamence,"- said the other.

-"Then slay it and take the first step,"- said the third.

-"W-What?!"- replied Nathaira.

No reply came, because the ghastly's began to dissipate into the air chanting, -"Fair is foul, and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air."-

The appartment parking lot was just across the street, low and behold there was a wounded Salamence.

-"I-I guess, first thing's first,"- said Nathaira before making for the door.

(TO BE CONTINUED) 


	7. Chapter 7: Classes Officially Start

**Teraunce** : _I used a few references to Macbeth if that is any hint. I apologize in advance. Thank you for reading my story, I hope you will continue to find it interesting. I am happy to hear from you._

 **To everyone else** : _Sorry this chapter is later than it's usual post date of Friday. I was busy, and next week I will have friends from out of town visiting for Fourth of July and the days leading up to it so next one will for sure be late. Really sorry guys. I love Y'all and I hope you enjoy._

-A week later-

A week has passed since the great change. Things have been getting weird, one morning there was a dead Salamence in the parking lot, blocked the cars from getting out, well, the cars that were not smashed in whatever battle took place.

I just hope I don't ever run into the monster that could kill a Salamence. The only thing that brightened my day enough to distract me from the horrid smell of rotting Salamence carcass was the fact that Nathaira evolved into a Kirlia.

Though there are some complications, she tends to get a lot of nose bleeds, I was changing one of these mornings are I had to drop everything I was doing to wipe her face. I should probably take her to a vet.

As the week passed many more students left campus some just left for home, wherever that is, others up and joined Team Rocket. On a more scary note, Team Rocket has been getting more and more successful.

What little has been heard of from the government has been ineffectual. Team Rocket has been thriving in the power vacuum.

All contact with the West coast has been lost.

Amidst all of this, class is finally going to resume.

"Atticus?" a voice wakes me from my reverie.

"Yes?" I ask.

"You going to eat those eggs?" asked Nathaira.

"I will bite you," I respond almost irritated, I let my food aggression do the talking.

"By the way, how are you able to talk?" I ask.

"I could just use telepathy to talk to you, but I can't direct it at more than one person, which is not convenient. So I use telekinesis to vibrate the particles in the air to create sound, it took some practice to figure it out, but I can do it as much as I want now that I evolved," replied Nathaira.

"That's cool, I got to get to Chinese class for now. You want to go with me or do something else?" I ask.

"I'll probably just watch some anime online," said Nathaira.

"Why online? Look around us!" I laugh.

"I was in the middle of seeing Mirai Nikki for the first time, I like it," she replied.

"Uh...huh...um Don't get any weird ideas from that series, it you spot a potential mate," I replied.

Nathaira flashes a creepy toothy yandere-esc grin, "Of course not, ehehehe."

-Earlier that morning-

In the aerobics room of the college gym a man of his sixties with long grey hair wearing a karate Gi fastened with a black belt was training.

*knock knock*

"Huff huff, the gym is public isn't it, come on in," he said.

"Hello, I hope you have a moment," said Josephine.

"I didn't have any classes to teach today, sure," he replied.

"I know that all clubs have been cancelled save for the newly formed mandatory Pokemon battling club, but I want to make an exception for yours," replied Josephine.

The man wipes sweat from his brow and looks at Josephine,"There were not many members in the Martial Arts club, the only remaining member is Atticus."

"Exactly, he is strong, I want to know what makes him tick. I want you to reopen the club, battle him and try to ascertain what makes him strong as a martial artist it is necessary to win a match to observe the behavior of an opponent his skill level to beat him," replied Josephine.

"You are asking me to spy on one of my former club members is what you mean by "reopen my club" hmph! I don't take kind to double speak kid," he replied.

"If he doesn't join us, he is a risk for Joining Team Rocket, you know their numbers grow each day, I shudder at the thought of them overrunning the school. Didn't you have a member of your club defect to Team Rocket?" asked Josephine.

"Fine fine, I'll check out Atticus, but I'll have you know I don't like this business one bit, consider that one favor I owed you done," the man replied.

"Excellent, and thank you Mr. Figg," said Josephine before turning to leave.

-Later that day Atticus POV Lunchroom-

"Your Chinese has improved a lot, good work," said Xiaomei.

"Thanks! By the way, what day do you get Pokemon battling class?" I ask.

"My email said today in an hour so I wont be able to talk for too long sadly," said Xiaomei.

"I see, I got mine tomorrow," I reply.

"What do you think of all this? Battling class that is," asked Xiaomei.

"I don't know, I feel a little suspicious of it," I reply.

"Huh? How so?" askes Xiaomei.

"I trust the General's judgement and all, but Josephine..." I trail off.

"Hmm? Did she say something to you?" asked Xiaomei.

"The General wanted to make me a leader in the SGA military branch. I turned it down I want to focus on my studies, I'm no general. Josephine had listened in on the conversation, she approached me and said she isn't taking no for an answer and with that she left. I don't know what she has planned, but battling class feels like a ploy to gain recruits from those who didn't join right off the bat," I explained to Xiaomei.

"Muuuuuuu! Who does she think she is!" Xiaomei growled.

"President of the SGA, that's who," a familiar voice replied.

It was Josephine. Xiaomei fuming gets up and gets in Josephine's face.

"What are you harassing Atticus for eh! I'll kick your ass!" Xiaomei hisses.

"Oh, so this is Atticus's girlfriend? Isn't she a bit...short?" she asks with a wicked smirk.

"And what is THAT supposed to mean?" Xiaomei growled.

"So you aren't denying Atticus is your boyfriend?" said Josephine.

"Yes!" "No!" Xiaomei and I responded simultaneously.

"Oh, is she friendzoning you?" asked Josephine, her trolling of Xiaomei hitting closer and closer to home. She surreptitiously placed herself behind me during the whole altercation.

"We are best friends, that's all!" said Xiaomei.

"He seems to think otherwise," replied Josephine.

At this point Xiaomei seemed speechless.

I feel a pair of hands reach around from behind hug me. Josephine's bust squishing into the back of my neck.

"Wouldn't you want a woman who can appreciate a strong man such as yourself?" she whispers seductively into my ear.

Xiaomei looked like she was on the verge of short circuiting.

"You are just trying to seduce me into becoming another member of the SGA military branch," reply, seeing through her thinly veiled advances.

Not breaking the embrace, she holds out a contract.

"Sign here, be my pet forever!" she said whilst stroking my arm.

"Are you really stooping to this to get me to join you? Are you that desperate? Plus your too...tall," I respond.

"Wh-WHAT!? Well I never! Don't think this is the last you heard of me! I have never failed to get my man! YOUR ASS BELONGS TO ME! FIGURATIVELY AND LITERALLY!" she turns and walks away. A paper from a folder she was holding fell to the floor. She was gone before I could retrieve it.

I hear snickering from Xiaomei.

"Did you see the look on her face when you shot her down!" she laughed.

"Oh you know me, I only have eyes for one woman," I say, putting an arm around Xiaomei.

"I'd normally hit you with a Wok for that comment, but I will let it slide this time as reward for pissing of Josephine," replied Xiaomei, returning the hug.

I look at the paper.

"Hmm? what is it?" asked Xiaomei.

"It's a flier to the Martial Arts club, they are having a grand reopening," I reply.

"You do have more spare time, why not go, you used to enjoy doing martial arts until your schedule got too hectic," said Xiaomei.

"You know, I ought to," I reply.

"Me and Nathaira can just have a girl's night while you are away," said Xiaomei.

"Sounds like a plan," I reply.

-That evening-

The sun was just passing below the horizon line as I walked toward the gym for Martial Arts.

(Pardon the cliffhanger, I am really pressed on time this week. I am really sorry guys, I love Y'all and after July 4th I am getting back to work.)


	8. Chapter 8: Figg Sensei

_Do pardon the long time it took to get back to the keyboard, I had friends from out of town in, though I probably already told Y'all that. If you are reading this on a Friday, my plan to get right back on tasked worked perfectly. If not, either you were slow to get back to fanfiction, or something went horribly wrong on my end, hopefully the former._

 **-In the Gym-**

I head to the upstairs aerobics room. The door is just glass, inside Figg Sensei is standing at attention in a denim martial arts Gi. His long grey hair tied back into a ponytail to keep it out of his face.

I walk through the doors, it appears no students are in the room.

"Anyone else joining us?" I ask.

"No, just you," replied Figg Sensei.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Most of the old members either disappeared or defected to Team Rocket," Figg Sensei replied.

"Why did you reopen the club then?" I asked.

"It was under orders of Ms. Josephine, I am to test your level of skill and learn what is it that makes you tick as a trainer. Of course she was expecting me to spy on you, but I say bollocks to that, this old fogey only knows about Pokemon battling what I've googled since the great change. You didn't even bring your Pokemon with you," Replied Figg.

"Then what is your plan?" I ask.

Figg cracks a sly smile, "Pop quiz, defend yourself!"

Figg unleashes a barrage of blows with his fists. I managed to block the blows that could have hit me, while avoiding most of them by staying out of arm's reach.

"You think on your feet, good, but your form is rusty. I got you backed to a corner, you will have to use offence if you want to win," said Figg.

I look behind me, and notice the mirrored wall behind me, he has in fact maneuvered me into a corner. Attacking is both my only option, and what he expects, I am in a trap if there ever was one. I lunge forward with a roundhouse kick, but I made a fatal error. I didn't have the time to switch to a Gi before the fight began and my jeans restricted my movement just enough to miss him by an inch.

It was enough to surprise him, but it wore off quick enough to respond with a punch to my already off balance form. I could feel the force of his punch soak throughout my body. To my horror I could feel myself coming to pieces, sinews snapping, bones throughout my body shattering, organs turning gelatinous, all from one punch. The form I've assumed is nowhere near as strong as the original, this I realize as I black out.

 **-Meanwhile in some mansion elsewhere in the city-**

Bonnie and Clyde enter the Boss's study.

The man in the chair looks up from his gameboy, "Anything to report?"

"Nothing much on the one we fought sir," replied Clyde.

"Then why do you disturb me?" the man asks.

"There have been developments at Birmingham college," said Clyde.

"I know already that they are forming a personal militia, I surmised that would happen should you two fail your mission to take the campus," the man replied.

"That's why we don't strike just yet, nor should we draw them into combat just yet," said the man.

"Why we couldn't take them out while they are weak now?" asked Bonnie.

"We are in a similar state to them, it is guaranteed that it will be a hard fight now, or then. If we fight now, both our factions will be weak to an incursion from any of the rouge generals to the north of us. If we fight now, he will tip the scales in their favor," said the man.

"You mean him?" asked Clyde.

"Yes, that Atticus kid, we need him, he will tip the scales in our favor," said the man.

"At least he seems to be staunchly against joining the school's defense force," said Bonnie.

"Good, maybe there is some hope in turning him, in the meantime remain hidden from sight. Quietly observe and report intel for now," replied the man.

"Yessir," replied Bonnie and Clyde.

"By the way, how has the new teammate been for you two?" asked the man.

"Excellent, the newbie has been instrumental in gathering intel that would couldn't have otherwise got," said Clyde.

"Good..."

 **-Back at the Gym-**

I regain consciousness.

"You need some EV training chap," I hear Figg Sensei's voice chime in.

To my horror I realize his punch rendered me unable to retain my human form, I was a ditto again.

"Relax, I won't tell Josephine anything, in fact I plan on training you just like before. My knowing you are a ditto just makes things more convenient for that end," replied Figg Sensei.

I try to call to mind my previous form and return to human shape but with no luck.

"You already had bad stamina, hence your difficulty transforming just now. Likewise, you couldn't take a strong hit and retain your form simultaneously. You are good at fighting, but you lose what you gain by the state of your body. Fudging your shape to be thinner does not undo what issues in health you had as a human. I've done some googling and from what I have found out is that HP is the one stat that carries over when you transform. If you will keep up with it, I will train you, it won't be pleasant, but you will become a force to be reckoned with," said Figg Sensei.

"Are you game?" asks Figg Sensei, extending a hand to shake.

I finally manage to regain my human shape and shake his hand.

"Excellent! Why don't we get started."

 _ **Author Note** : I am still getting in the swing of things. Pardon the short chapter, but the way I set things up I realize I made for a short chapter from the outset. Then again when I was writing 'Too Late' the standard minimum was 1000 words. I have been trying to keep it up to 2000, in this case, I went for richness in content for this chapter, I had a busy week. I hope Y'all enjoyed, see you next week!_


	9. Chapter 9: Battling Class

_Sometimes I have trouble thinking of ideas for the next chapter. All throughout the making of this fic I have been plagued by terrible writer's block. Feel free to throw ideas at me in the review's, it will help give me ideas for what to do next. Without further ado, here is Chapter 9, love you guys!_

 **-While Atticus was training with Figg Sensei somewhere else on campus-**

"Hi Andrew!" said Josephine.

"H-hi!" Andrew managed to stammer.

"Relax, we're friends aren't we?" asked Josephine.

A line of blood drips down from Andrew's nose.

"I want you to be my champion in a wager," said Josephine.

Andrew having recovered from the shock of a member of the opposite sex talking to him of their own volition enough to ask, "What will I get out of it?"

Josephine leans forward a little, and unbuttons a few buttons of her suit, showing a little cleavage of her large bust, "Evenings are lonely for you aren't they? How about I come visit you sometime?"

Andrew's glasses fog up and blood spurts from his nose at a rate that would cause him to rocket upwards. He flies off into the sunset.

"I'll take that as a yes, but I wonder if what I did was smart?" Josephine muses to herself?

 **-The Next Day-**

"Muuuuu Do I have to tag along?" asks Nathaira.

"It's battling class, for Pokemon battling, you are my only Pokemon, you must come," I reply.

"I know I know, I just don't want to go to school, I hate school," said Nathaira.

"Speaking from experience?" I ask.

"You could say that," replied Nathaira.

An awkward silence looms as we quietly walk along the path to the Gym.

"Be-before you were a Pokemon, who were you?" I catch myself asking.

"M-me? um..." she hesitates.

"Don't stress about it, if you don't feel comfortable telling me yet, you don't have to," I reply.

"It's not that I am not comfortable around you or anything...It's...just difficult to say. Just, don't feel bad about it, I'll tell you one day," Nathaira replies.

"No problem, I probably got a few secret's up my sleeve that will knock your socks off too," I reply, flashing her a grin.

"Thanks," replied Nathaira.

"Don't mention it," I reply.

"Oh look we're here," Nathaira says pointing to the gym.

 **-Elsewhere, that morning-**

"Do you have the thing that will ensure he accepts the wager?" Josephine asked.

"Yes, I had it sent in special," replied Andrew.

"This...doesn't seem like something he'd go for..." said Josephine.

"He may hide his freak flag nowadays, but I refuse to believe the Atticus I knew and loved is dead," replied Andrew.

"He used to be into that?" asked Josephine.

"All the stuck up cheerleaders and dumb Blondie types only went for musclebound jocks, any mention of nerd culture was surefire way to ensure one would remain single for the entirety of highschool...People have their coping mechanisms," replied Andrew.

"He...seemed...so normal, I would not have guessed he sunk so low," said Josephine.

"I fear the facade of normalcy may be permanent, if I don't do something. Hopefully this plan will save him," said Andrew.

"Save him? From what? Maybe normalcy will help him live a fuller life? Plus he seemed to be far more successful in the realm of romance," Josephine replied.

"Hey Josephine, want to watch Highschool of the Dead after this?" Asked Andrew.

"What?" asked Josephine.

"It's an anime," Andrew replied.

"Ew no," snapped Josephine.

"Exactly," replied Andrew.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Josephine.

Andrew looks at Josephine his expression serious this time, "Highschool was full of people who were unwilling to try new things, and meet at least halfway. That and we were perverts, but then again were we lonely because we were perverts, or perverts because we were lonely? He now puts on a mask, I hope to save him from himself or else he will have another form of loneliness, the kind you get despite having company."

"And I thought this whole time you signed up because I-" "No, I may still be a perv, but I am a little more self aware than back in my highschool days," said Andrew.

"Oh look here he comes," said Josephine.

 **-At Atticus's dorm-**

"I'm BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRED!" exclaims Xiaomei.

 _-"M'lady, doth you want to play fetch?"-_ asks Lucius.

"Hmmmmmmm...I don't know, I feel like nothing, .ever! Feels like it hurts to exist!" said Xiaomei.

 _-"What about something constructive?"-_ asks Lucius.

"You are right, if I do something constructive like homework I'll immediately get bored of it and will start procrastinating and then I will know what I want to do today!" exclaims Xiaomei.

 _-"But lady Xiaomei, you haven't been assigned any homework, instead why not a rousing game of fetch! It always puts me in a good mood!"-_ replies Lucius.

"I GOT IT!" exclaims Xiaomei.

 _-"You're going to play fetch?!"-_ Lucius asks with hope in his red eyes.

"No we are going to practice battling!" replied Xiaomei.

 **-At the gym-**

The two of us walk into the gym, I take a moment to swipe my student card at the front desk.

We walk to the basketball court where class today was to be held. The room is dark and there are no students to be seen.

"Hello?" I call out.

"I sense the enemy!" exclaimed Nathaira.

My eyes are suddenly blinded by floodlights.

"What the-"

"Muhahahahaha!" Josephine laughed.

On the upper level of the gym on the second floor indoor running track stood Josephine and Andrew.

"What's this all about!?" I shout up at them.

Josephine adjust her hair and flashes a haughty smile, "I dismissed everyone from class for today, save for you."

"And Andrew," I reply finishing her sentence.

"Exactly, you two are going to battle," said Josephine.

"I figured as much, but with the evil villain setup you have there is definitely a catch, get to the point," I point out.

Josephine wags her finger at me, "Tsk tsk so impatient. Andrew!"

"Yes madam president!" salutes Andrew.

"Bring out the hostage," she ordered.

"Yes madam president," said Andrew.

He produces a Haruhi Suzumiya body pillow.

"Andrew you bastard!" I shout.

"It had to be done! I will save you from yourself," Andrew replied.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I ask.

"The real Atticus keeps a Haruhi Suzumiya body pillow in his room and is proud of it. You put up a front to escape loneliness instead of waiting for someone who will meet you halfway," said Andrew.

"Um, if I may interrupt," chimed in Josephine, "This is a wager, if you lose you join the self defense force, if you win you get back Haruhi."

"Fine! I'll have your heads for this!" I shout back at them.

"Magneton, go!" orders Andrew.

A Magneton floats down from above.

"Use Thundershock!" orders Andrew.

Nathaira anticipated the move and jumped aside just in time.

"Counter with confusion!" I shout back.

"Take this!" Nathaira shouts, as her red horn glows.

The Magneton becomes confused. It's movement in the air becomes erratic.

"Use Gyro Ball!," orders Andrew.

The Magneton begins to spin rapidly.

"Oh snap, that not going to help the confusion," said Nathaira.

The Magneton proceeds to attack the brick wall, knocking itself unconscious.

Andrew's Onix slithers into the court.

"Just give up Atticus!" shouts Andrew.

"Has it ever occurred to you that meeting halfway is a two way street?" I ask.

Andrew is silent for a minute.

"Atticus...you are right, I never looked at it that way, I am sorry," Andrew replies.

"Then will you surrender?" I ask.

"AW HELL NO! If I win I get laid!" Andrew replied.

"Enough," I reply.

"Screw this!" said Nathaira, and she unleashed a torrent of magic leaves, knocking out the Onix and hitting both Andrew and Josephine.

"Let's go," said Nathaira.

"Fine fine," let's grab some lunch," I said as we start out the door.

"Yeah, at least going into battle hangry expedited the battle," said Nathaira.

"Maybe I should feed you a smaller breakfast, ensure battling class is always short," I laugh.

"I will cut you," replied Nathaira.

 **-Just outside Atticus's dorm, late afternoon-**

Lucius panting replies, _-"Why don't we take a break from martial-"-_

"Do kata number 3 five more times now!" barks Xiaomei.

"DAMMIT I WASTED MY DAY DOING HOMEWORK AND I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO TODAY!" cries Xiaomei tears streaming down her face.

 _-"I'll just try harder..."-_ Lucius replies dejectedly.

 **-Later at the Gym, evening-**

Andrew wakes up and picks a leaf out of his curly hair, "Damn, so close."

"Dammit!" exclaims Josephine.

"What's wrong?" asked Andrew.

"My suit is all cut up," replied Josephine.

"Do you know what I do on a shitty day?" asked Andrew.

"What?" asked Josephine.

"Order pizza and watch anime," he replied.

"Strangely enough, that sounds like a good idea," replied Josephine.

Andrew shoots Josephine a smirk, "I thought you hated anime."

"This world's gone anime, might as well develop a taste for it. Plus, you are right, I should meet people halfway sometimes," she replied.

"Then it's a date!" he replied.

"N-no i-it's not like I am taking you on a date or anything. You still gave it your all so pizza's on me," Josephine replies.

"Yay!"


	10. Chapter 10: Stalkers and Secrets

**-Elsewhere-**

"Anything new?" asked Josephine.

"Nothing, just class as usual I doubt you will be able find anything that would motivate him to join us," a female voice replied.

"Find something, or say goodbye to your 3.0 GPA!" Josephine growled.

"Fine your Highness," the voice grumbled.

"What?" snapped Josephine.

"Nothing," she replied.

 **-Atticus's dorm that morning-**

Xiaomei snores loudly.

"Xiaomei!" I shout.

Xiaomei snaps to attention, "W-what?"

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I practiced battling all day yesterday, now I am dead tired," she replied.

"I have a Chinese quiz at noon, I need your help reviewing," I replied.

Xiaomei whimpers like a kicked puppy.

"In exchange I will take you somewhere to get some food," I reply.

Xiaomei perks up.

"First you must help me with Chinese," I say.

"Arf!" she replied.

Continuing with the joke I scratch her behind the ear, "Good girl."

On the balcony stood Lucius looking pensive.

"Lucius, what are you thinking about?" I call out to him.

 _-"I...I never figured out 'who's a good boy...'"-_ He replies.

I was about to laugh thinking it was a joke but his eyes were serious.

"Lucius," I said.

 _-"Hm? yes Sir Atticus?"-_ asked Lucius.

"You're the good boy," I reply with a grin.

 _-"I'M A GOOD BOY YAY!"-_ Lucius begins to pant and gin uncontrollably whilst jumping for joy.

"We should get to work," said Xiaomei.

"Right!" I reply.

We work on Chinese until it was time to go to class.

 **-Meanwhile-**

"Xiaomei and Atticus going on a date? Shit! What would Gasai Yuno do in a situation like this?" Nathaira thinks to herself.

"Kidnap Atticus then pop a cap in that bitch's ass!" Nathaira's mental representation of Gasai Yuno says.

"No Yuno, that's illegal, but then again so is bestiality. But he's a Pokemon too! Screw it, I don't want to break any laws," Nathaira thought aloud.

"You aren't making this easy for me, I dunno, just stalk them?" replied Yuno.

"I will stare angrily at the back of his head until he feels the full brunt of my ire!" said Nathaira.

"Thug life," sarcastically replied Yuno.

 **-After the Chinese quiz-**

"Yus! I passed!" I shouted excitedly.

"Glad to help!" replied Xiaomei.

"You are bloody brilliant! I could kiss you!" I reply while attempting to kiss her on the cheek.

My attempt thwarted by an iron wok that I kissed instead, that Xiaomei used as a shield.

"Thank me with food," she said.

 **-Meanwhile in a nearby bush-**

"Where are they going, more importantly, how the hell am I going to tail him!" Nathaira thought to herself.

 **-Meanwhile in another bush-**

A girl with long blue hair and eyes wearing a black business suit crouched behind a bush.

She writes in her notepad, "He is with another person, black hair, tan skin, loli."

"God I hate this job," she sighs to herself.

Nathaira hears this and looks over to see the blue haired girl behind the other bush.

"Stalking Atticus too?" Nathaira calls out.

The girl jumps, "Don't scare me like that! You could have blown my cover. Yes, I am, and before you judge I need to save my grades somehow."

"I could use a car," said Nathaira.

"Y-you want me to buy you a car!?" she stammered.

"No, ride, they are going on a date, I will need a car to follow. I'm a Pokemon, what would I do with a car anyway," replied Nathaira.

"You'd be surprised, yes, I will take you with me, I could use a second set of eyes, and intel you could provide," she replied.

"We have a deal, I didn't get your name," said Nathaira.

"It's Lorelei, what's yours?" asked Lorelei.

"Nathaira, it's a pleasure," she replied.

"We should get moving quickly, they are leaving," said Lorelei.

The two make for a car in the nearby parking lot. They hop in, when Nathaira notices she can see Xiaomei and Atticus get into their own vehicle.

"Was that intentional? Parking where you can see their vehicle?" Nathaira asked.

"Josephine has had me tailing them for a while now," replied Lorelei.

Nathaira looks at her, "You are too good at this job..."

"Yep...So...Do you know which way they are headed?" asked Lorelei.

"They are probably headed to get sushi at Publix, tail them, I am not entirely sure of their plans," said Nathaira.

"Of course," replied Lorelei.

 **-At Publix-**

Nathaira and Lorelei keep close behind the other two. Lorelei moves through the crowd shoppers deftly like a ghost. Nathaira on the other hand could only stumble clumsily behind to try and keep up.

Lorelei puts out a hand behind her to stop Nathaira, once they reached the end of some shelves to get a vantage point to see the sushi section.

Lorelei produces a high power microphone and headphones.

"Lend me one of those," said Nathaira as she grasped at the headphones.

Lorelei hands her one, "Take one."

The two listened in on Atticus and Xiaomei.

 **-Atticus POV + Nathaira commentary.** _Italic text = Nathaira's thoughts_ **Bold is Lorelei** -

"Thanks again for helping me with Chinese homework," I said. _Thanks again for using your knowledge of Chinese to get in my pants._

"No problem, I am just happy to help a friend," replied Xiaomei. _I'm going to puke._

"Hm did you say something?" I asked.

"Oh, no I didn't," Xiaomei replied.

"Nevermind. Anyhow, ever thought about us maybe being a little more than friends?" I asked. _BACK OFF BITCH HE'S MINE_

Xiaomei's face reddens a bit, "Atticus...I-I n-never saw you in such a way."

 _You're rejecting him! Bitch you don't deserve him! If I weren't a Pokemon I'd kick your ass! Dammit! I wish I was human again! I am sick of being the f**king pet, I wish I could make my feelings know rather than hiding in the shadows like that strange Lorelei chick!_

 **Shh, Nathaira, you are thinking so loud that I can hear you!**

 _sorry_

"Why not?" I asked.

Xiaomei begins to stammer, "I..."

"Sorry to cockblock you but I need to pass a class, and I need some bonus points," a familiar voice called out.

 _Yes please, I can't bare to watch anymore!_

"Taylor?" I ask.

"Ya man, Josephine put the squeeze on my grades, she said I could save them by battling you," said Taylor.

"Did you have to come now?" I ask. _Shhh, don't question it accept it, also I hope your ass gets kicked for breaking my heart!_

"I just ran into you while I was doing my own shopping. I don't necessarily have to win, I'll be gracious and only one one Pokemon out of my team," Taylor replied.

"I didn't bring my Pokemon, I won't be able to battle you," I said. shit

"You do have that 'other' Pokemon," said Taylor.

"Other Pokemon," I asked.

"Dude you were partially melted when I took you inside," Taylor replies.

"You knew!" I exclaim.

"Yup," he replied. _holy shit!_

 **-Outside in the parking lot-**

Nathaira and Lorelei are watching from behind a car.

 **No, it couldn't be, is he?!**

"Atticus, what is he talking about?" Xiaomei asks.

"Banquo!" I choose you.

Out comes a Golbat.

I look back at Xiaomei, " I guess I owe you an explanation."

I look at the Golbat and mentally internalize it's shape, then let that shape encompass me.

 **He's...he's!**

"Holy shit you're," gasped Xiaomei.

"Time for a little revenge for fainting me earlier," I said.

-"You can't blame me, I was hungry,"- replied Banquo.

"Banquo use confuse ray!" yells Taylor.

I try to dodge but my senses are dazed.

I try to regain my senses, but not before getting hit with a wing attack. I focus my mind into a singular point, that point being the easiest, the pain. The confusion ends quickly.

Banquo rushes me again, I dodge clumsily, realizing this is my first time trying to fly, much less fly and fight.

I try to think of a move to use, and I call up to mind Nathaira's ability to use thunderbolt. Banquo tries to make another pass.

"Not so fast!" I retort before blasting him with a thunderbolt.

"How?! Banquo doesn't know thunderbolt!" Taylor explains.

"Want another thunderbolt from a god mortal!" I shout at him.

"Fine, keeping with tradition," Taylor leaves some money and flees.

I return to human form.

"H-how?" Xiaomei stutter.

"It wasn't just animals that became Pokemon, come, we should check out the groceries. I'll explain further," I replied while grabbing the money Taylor left off the ground.

 **-In Lorelei's car on the way back to campus-**

"You seem rather calm," said Nathaira.

Lorelei looks over and smiles, "I do don't I?"

"I just figured you'd freak out more, like Xiaomei did," Nathaira replied.

"Well she did get hit on by a ditto," Lorelei replied.

"Hmm, that's true," Nathaira said.

"By the way, your secret is safe with me," said Lorelei.

"huh?" Nathaira looks up in surprise.

"Your emotions got intense enough to the point you broadcast your thoughts to those very nearby," Lorelei replied.

"I don't suppose you'll refrain from including that in your report?" Nathaira asked.

"Sure, but Atticus's secret is doomed, I apologize in advance. It's the only way to get out from under Josephine's thumb," Lorelei replied.

"I can't say I am happy about that, but I understand," replied Nathaira.

The car comes to a stop in the school parking lot.

"And here we are, best of luck to you Nathaira," said Lorelei.

"You too," Nathaira replied.

 **-Later at Atticus's dorm-**

Xiaomei and Atticus are having sushi.

Nathaira walks in.

Xiaomei speaks up, "Nathaira, Atticus is a-" "I know already," Nathaira replied.

"How did you?" the two reply in amazement.

"There's no such things as secrets to a psychic Pokemon," Nathaira replied.

"Well, that is awkward," I reply.

"Yup, I know all your dirty thoughts," said Nathaira.

"Fuck," I find myself exclaiming.


End file.
